There are 3 main stages in a water cycle which includes, Evaporation, Precipitation and Condensation.
The water cycle explains how water from the surface of the earth goes into the atmosphere, cools and condenses into rain or snow and falls back to the surface of the earth as precipitation.
Evaporation is the process by which water goes back from the surface of the earth to the atmosphere by being converted to the gaseous state as water vapor.